Having land is not enough reason to build a house

I know you will agree with me that not all land is suitable for building a home.  Yet, over the years I have observed this fatal mistake.

Why would someone build on land that is less than desirable?

The land was inherited

The land was cheap

There are more reasons but most of them will probably fall in the "land was cheap" category.

When you consider building a house you need to consider more than just the physical land. How about taking into account the location and the properties around it. For example:

Is it near a landfill or other undesireable property?

What is the traffic like?

You get my drift.

It is important when thinking of building to take the emotion out of the decision.  Think like a buyer. However, you might say it is your dream house and you are going to live there forever.  But statistics are not on your side as most people do move after several years.    Yes, whenever you are building you also need to think about that time when you will need to sell . Will others want your dream house in the present location?

So who are the ones making this costly mistake? Usually, those with limited funds, who can only build a house because they were given the land.

 Many times the land is not the best. It might need lots of fill or a raised bed for the septic system. Drilling a well might be expensive because of rocks; and the list goes on.  By the time all of these issues are addressed so that  the land is buildable the cost is equal to a lot in a much better location.

The other group making this mistake are builders engaging in spec building.

When it was a seller's market builders got away with putting specs on some less than desirable lots.  Some had the faulty thinking that if the lot was in a desirable school district all else could be overlooked.

When the market shifted to a buyer's market many were left holding the bag, having to cut the asking price drastically and thus forfeiting a profit.

I was shocked recently to run across such a situation, which left me wondering what the builder was thinking.  I know that keeping costs down is important if you are to make a profit but building on a piece of property because it appears cheap can be such a costly mistake.

Copyright © by Jennifer Fivelsdal, all rights reserved-Having land is not enough reason to build a house